Constitutions and the first task will be to agree new Terms of Reference
for a combined group.
We are entering the season when those who are eligible will be invited to
have their annual flu jab and this edition of the newsletter also publicises
the setting up of a new health walking group, Walking for Health Botley
As many residents will be aware, and as Roy and Briony Newport
affirmed in the June edition of the newsletter, Botley has been fortunate
to have a walking group since 2004, a group that meets on Wednesdays
at 9.30 am. U3A also organise walks on Fridays. The new walking group
has arisen directly out of the work of the PPG, and should be seen as
complementary to the existing groups and not in competition with them.
It provides the opportunity for a week-end walk for those who may not be
able to walk during the working week.
These two matters, flu jabs and walking, raise for me the issue of
preventive medicine, the importance of taking responsibility for our own
health when we can and of following advice from all members of the
medical team about actions we can take to keep ourselves well. It is easy
to forget that many, if not most, advances in health well-being have come
from public health measures and not from advances in the management
of acute illness. Thus was the case with clean water, the eradication of
smallpox, the emergence of vaccines against common illnesses such as
mumps, measles, rubella and polio, the introduction of seat-belt
legislation, the ever tighter controls on driving (notably drink-driving) and,
more recently, the drive to reduce smoking, to name but a few
examples. Some issues remain to be tackled effectively, notably misuse
of alcohol, obesity arising
from excessive eating of junk
food and sugar, and the new
scourge of diesel emissions.
All require active Government
intervention, frankly.
The great majority of medical
time, both in general practice
and in hospital medicine, is
spent in preventive work and
in the management of long-
term illnesses (such as heart
WALKING FOR HEALTH BOTLEY
Starts: Saturday 23 September then
every 2nd and 4th Saturday
9.45 am, meet at WI Hall in North
Hinksey Lane
About 2 miles long. For fast and slow
walkers. Led by 2 accredited walk leaders.
Car parking available. For more
information: www.walkingforhealth.org.
uk/content/walking-for-health-Botley
Or email: doumechehall@hotmail.co.uk